Embracing Joy and Radical Hospitality in Faith

Good morning, church family! My name is Debbie, and I'm delighted to extend a special welcome to those of you who are here for the first time and those of you watching from home. It's good to be the people of God together.

Teens are now dismissed for youth group. You can head out these doors to your left, turn right, and go straight down the hall to the youth room. Kids age 2 through 10 are invited to join our Vineyard Kids program. Parents and kids, you can meet our Vineyard Kids teachers right up here to my right.

If you are new to our church, we are so glad that you came. Every person in this room is a gift from God, and you are no exception. You're invited to fill out one of these welcome cards that's found in the back of the seat in front of you.

God, I pray that we'd be able to humbly enter in here and lay down anything that's trying to distract us or keep us from you. And that we could worship you wholeheartedly. Let us sing for joy, let us shine alive, let us worship God and bless his name. Let us worship God, oh yeah, gratitude that flows deep within our souls. Let us see the name, bless his name, go let us sing for joy.

God, mercy full of grace, you are forever always. Forever we're a kingdom, shine in all your praises. So let the heavens roar and go across the ground as your people sing of your majesty. Lord, hear the sound, Lord, hear the sound. Love you, you are forever always. Go across the ground as your people sing, love your majesty. Lord, hear the sound, glory Lord designed everyone, give everyone your stories, perfecting everyone, everyone.

Let us worship God, lives to blessings, worship with one voice, made out of it at a relationship, serve our every praise that goes in this place. Let us worship God, oh yeah, gratitude that flows deep within our souls. Let us sing for joy, let us you are here, let us worship God, bless his name. Bless his name, bless his name, thank you.

Let us sing for joy, let us shine alive, let us worship God and bless his name. Let us worship God, oh yeah, gratitude that flows deep within our souls. Let us see the name, bless his name, go let us sing for joy.

God, mercy full of grace, you are forever always. Forever we're a kingdom, shine in all your praises. So let the heavens roar and go across the ground as your people sing of your majesty. Lord, hear the sound, Lord, hear the sound. Love you, you are forever always. Go across the ground as your people sing, love your majesty. Lord, hear the sound, glory Lord designed everyone, give everyone your stories, perfecting everyone, everyone.

Amen, amen. Welcome again. Welcome to the church. Feel free to grab a seat, say hi to someone, ask them how their AC is doing, see if they need any fans.

We're gonna have some announcements. It's right there, they hit the mic. Yeah. Thank you.

We'd like to give you a warm welcome! To show our appreciation, we'd like to give you a Starbucks gift card. To receive your gift card, stop by our welcome table on your way out. You can also find a link to the welcome card in the video description.

We have two special spaces for vocal kids today. The cry room is to my right, and the left is just for moms with kids. You can access that from the hallway in the lobby. There are extra toys and floor space along with seats in the gallery for adults. Artists and doodlers of all ages can also pick up a coloring page binder by the table at the back of the floor section.

Now, I'd like to fill you in about some events coming up in our church. There is a QR code that you can scan behind me on the screen for an online bulletin. There's a printed copy in the lobby or a link in the video description.

Today, right after church, we've got donuts from DJs to enjoy together in the gallery. While you're there, take a look in the lost and found, especially if you're wondering where your water bottle went.

You are invited to a beach party next Sunday, July 9th. Bring a dessert or salad to share and come enjoy great food and games with your church family. Sign up in the lobby if you're planning to come and especially if you're able to help with the setup, cleaning, cooking, or games.

On Sunday, July 23rd, newcomers are invited to donuts and chai with Pastor Donnell after the service. This is a chance for anyone who is still in the getting to know you stage with our church to learn more about our values, ask questions, meet people, and find out how to get connected here at Vineyard. Sign up in the lobby if you're planning to be there.

Finally, if you are a member here at the Vineyard, plan to join us on July 31st for a business meeting to review the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. We are in the process of searching for a mortgage and have a finance committee team connecting with vendors, asking questions, and working on proposals. My goal is to keep everyone updated by sending out emails about every two weeks so that everyone knows what is happening, especially as we head into the budget meeting.

After service today, I am going to meet with a subset of congregants to talk about vision and the framework for vision. Once we finish up that conversation, we will send out another email to let everyone know where we are and how they can participate.

We also want to give away an Easter offering, even though it is July. We are hoping to raise about five thousand dollars to give to SOS Community Services. They have a program where they take four dollars or one dollar and multiply it times four to do permanent housing. If we give five thousand dollars as a church, we could house a family for a whole year. They take our five thousand dollars and get fifteen thousand dollars from a government program, and with that twenty thousand dollars, they can house a family for a whole year.

Every week in July, I will be letting everyone know about this program, and we are hoping to have someone from SOS Community Service do a little sharing with everyone about the program and the kinds of people so that everyone can be inspired. If we meet the five thousand dollar goal, we will use any additional money to increase the amount we can give.

Jesus is calling us to embrace a certain kind of hospitality. He is inviting us to actively welcome others, regardless of their social status, morality, or the perceptions we have about them. Jesus himself practiced this kind of hospitality. He says that whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. Even if someone gives a cup of cold refreshing water to one of the little ones, they will not lose their reward.

This is a radical command to show hospitality to all people. We are called to welcome others, no matter who they are or what they have done. Each time we welcome someone, we are partnering with the liberating presence of God to cultivate joy, hope, and belonging. We pray that, whether this is someone's first time with us or they have been a part of our faith community for a while, they would feel the invitation of the Holy Spirit to join in with us in this vision.

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. At this time, meals were steeped in tradition and culture, and everyone at the meal had a role to play. These events were multifaceted, often involving political and cultural ideas, music, poetry, and a lot of drinking. Additionally, these meals were also the place where the moral teaching of the day took place. Respectable women were not welcomed at this table, and if they were invited, they had their own space in the home.

A woman in the town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. She then wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them.

Jesus was not only welcoming them, but he was welcoming Christ and God who sent Christ to us. This story is a really fun one to turn to because there is a lot in it, and Jesus unpacks things in a unique way. He shows us that regardless of someone's social status, morality, or the perceptions we have about them, we should welcome them.

The invitation to the meal was a key to its success. The hosts knew they were doing something right if they got the right people in the room. It was an honor to them, and in their home, they were able to confer favor, privilege, and exchange power utilizing these meals. The host had an obligation to be gracious, inviting, and welcoming as guests entered the house. For example, the host would have been expected to greet the guests, kiss them, offer them water to clean their feet, and maybe even a little bit of oil to deal with their cracked skin.

The food at these meals was the social substance and served as the currency of the meal. What one is able and chooses to serve expresses their own position and helps define their relationship to others.

At the meal in John, Jesus turns the water to wine because the host runs out of wine. Someone at the party says, "Why are you saving the best wine for the end of the party?" This was a real big exchange which Luke skips right over. As a guest, one is offered a measure of their standing vis-a-vis the host based on how the meal and the party unfolds.

When a woman who was not invited pushes herself into the meal to get to Jesus, she shreds the social political construct of the meal which was known as the symposium. This is the drama that Luke rushes to get to in verse 39. When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw what this woman had done, he said to himself, "If this man was who he said he was, surely he would know who was touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she is a sinner."

This is the kind of thing that we do when we mutter under our breath. Maybe you've had someone over for a meal and were taught you don't ask for something that's not on the table. But sometimes we shred the social political contracts that we have as a guest to our host. We are sitting there, and we want something that's not at the table, so we ask for it. Maybe as a host, you're not as gracious as you want to be because you've placed everything to make this meal work on the table, and here comes someone who wants something that's not on the table.

Simon the Pharisee is hosting a dinner and has invited Jesus as a guest. He has prepared a space for his guests and is expecting everything to go well. However, when an ungrateful guest arrives and begins to go through his cupboards, Simon is frustrated and angry. He begins to mutter under his breath, revealing his true thoughts about Jesus. He wonders if Jesus is a fraud and if he is stirring people up for his own selfish gains.

Simon has categorized people and made assumptions about them, and he is now wrestling with the traditions he has received. He is alarmed that Jesus is not acting the way he should and is allowing a woman to touch him, shredding his reputation in the process. Simon is more than frustrated; he is irritated.

To prove my worth to them, Simon is doing the same thing. He's like, "What is Jesus getting up to here? What is he trying to do?" And so he says, "The one who was forgiven more." He says, "The one who was forgiven more," and Jesus says, "You have judged rightly."

"I got all these people here, I thought this was going to be a good time. I had planned to make this a really wonderful evening, but all of the effort and prestige I thought I would retain or get from having this exchange between Jesus and some of my friends is all gone."

Simon is steaming mad; he's beside himself, and Jesus notices he's paying attention to himself and everyone else. In Luke chapter 7, verses 40 and 43, Jesus starts off by saying, "Simon, I have something to tell you." He tells him a story of two people who owed money to a certain money lender; one owed him 500 denarii, and the other owed him 50. Neither of them had the money to pay back, so he forgave both of the debts. Jesus then asks Simon, "Which of them will love him more?"

Simon pauses, not rushing in because he wants to see what Jesus is getting up to. He processes the story and then responds, "The one who was forgiven more." Jesus says, "You have judged rightly."

Simon had heard a story, and everyone in the room answered the way that Simon did. He said, "I love it. I love how he responds. He goes, 'I suppose the one who got the greater debt forgiven.'"

Jesus wanted to reveal to Simon that, like the woman he thought was unworthy to be there, Simon also owed a debt. Jesus used the tool of story to undermine the story that Simon was telling himself about himself. He wanted to disrupt the story that Simon was telling and wanted him to inhabit a better story.

Jesus said to Simon, "You are a sinner too. You are in need of space at this table just like this woman. You need forgiveness; you need reconciliation. But Simon, do you want it? Do you falsely believe that because you have kept the laws, because you have followed the traditions, because you are the host of this event, that you aren't guilty, that you aren't broken, that you aren't needy?"

Jesus didn't challenge Simon's belief that the unnamed woman was a sinner; he just challenged Simon's belief that he was not. He said, "You both owe money you can't repay."

Simon was having a moment because Jesus had told him a very simple story. Jesus welcomed both Simon and the unnamed woman at the table and demonstrated something that happens early in Matthew from the lectionary reading, where he's talking about the Prophet's reward. Jesus was saying to Simon, "You invite a prophet over, you're going to get the prophet's reward." Simon just didn't realize it.

At the beginning of the text, Jesus was contending with a real prophet, Simon. Jesus knew what was going on with Simon, but Simon got it twisted and thought Jesus' prophetic senses must be offline. Jesus was demonstrating what he would do fully on the cross later in his life - to help reconcile us all to God.

His death on the cross was not an exchange where God gains the necessary capital to forgive us sinners, but rather Jesus reveals God to us on the cross. Jesus didn't exclude the woman who shredded the social political construct of the meal, but instead gave her the space to accept or reject. He told Simon the truth about himself and gave him the space to accept or reject.

Jesus had something operating within him that allowed him to respond differently to social expectations that reinforce inequality. It wasn't just his God-given superpowers, but rather his shared humanity with us. He cared about something more deeply true about who we are and who God is. The invitation here is to not just care about what other people think about us, but something else that is even more deeply true.

The world that God made declares that we matter to Him. Jesus then turned towards a woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house, Simon, and as a host you were supposed to do all these things, and you didn't give me any water for my feet, yet she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them. You would have given me a towel if you actually respected me or cared about me being here, water and a towel, but she's used her hair.

In this culture, her hair would have most likely have been covered; it would have been protected because that was an intimacy that wasn't supposed to be revealed or shared. So when she lets down her hair, there's this intimacy that occurs that can be difficult in a culture where shame is at work, and he's just unpacking this for Simon.

You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I've entered has not stopped kissing my feet. My hands were chapped and a little dry because of our arid culture and climate that we're in, but you didn't give me any oil to put on my hands to give me some relief, but this woman that you see here, Simon, she's poured perfume on my feet.

Therefore, I tell you a truth, her many sins have been forgiven as her great love has shown, but whoever has been forgiven little, Simon, they love little.

This unnamed woman was willing, after learning that Jesus was at Simon's house, to go to him. I want to offer that the woman observed and was deeply dismayed about how Jesus was treated by his hosts. She saw the insult; the host didn't honor him; he didn't honor his presence at the meal by offering him the basic expectations of hospitality.

And this woman was able to observe this insult because this act of humiliation that she sees visited on Jesus, I'm going to offer something: she was quite familiar with, and she knew what it felt like, and she didn't like it. And she used her agency, her ability to act in time and space, to acknowledge his humanity and to tell a different story about his presence.

Luke doesn't give us her backstory; he doesn't even tell us her name, and so we're only left to infer based on her actions. But maybe she experienced some amount of dehumanization, some experience of rejection, some experience with shame. And so she sees all of this in the interaction between Jesus and Simon, and it breaks something within her.

If Simon won't see Jesus's humanity, then she says, "I certainly will," because she knows the story that she's heard about herself, and she knows how her story is unfolding, and she's heard stories about Jesus, and she hopes that Jesus will see her humanity.

And so the tears of her sadness and heartbreak fall and wash Jesus's feet. She does something scandalous; as I said earlier, she let down her hair. Since she couldn't climb up on the couch where he was reclining, she stayed where she could, which was at his feet. Without the resources that she needed, water and a towel, she uses what she has; she uses her tears and her hair.

Jesus sees the woman and her need and responds to her. He tells her that her sins are forgiven. The other people at the dinner are surprised by this and realize that this dinner has changed. They thought they were just there to get some moral teaching and meet Jesus, but now they see that Jesus is a walking representation of the temple of God.

He invites them to follow him and says that when they welcome someone, they welcome him and the one who sent him, God the Father. If they enter into the stream, God may do wonderful things in their midst. He may humanize someone, forgive someone, anoint someone, and tell someone a different story about themselves and how they live in this world.

Jesus says that faith has saved the woman and tells her to go in peace. He invites us to be the kinds of people who practice what we see Jesus do, and to practice radical hospitality by welcoming people regardless of their social status, ethnicity, or standing in society. He invites us to meet him at the table and see what God will do.

Welcome, my child! I'm so glad you're here.

We'd love to get to know you if you're new here, so there's a welcome card in the back of the seat in front of you. You can fill that out right now and drop it in the offering bag. You can also receive prayer by filling out the prayer card, which should be in the back of the seat in front of you. You can write down any prayer requests or praises on that card and drop it in the offering bags when it's passed around.

We like to put our faith in action through our financial giving. All the gifts that are given here today help support efforts to introduce the practical mercy of Jesus to those both inside and outside of our church. This includes things like our homeless ministry or congregate mutual aid fund and other ways and means of bringing some mercy to our surrounding community.

You can drop cash or checks into the offering bags, use a debit or credit card at the giving kiosk out in the lobby, use it at our website annarborvineyard.org, or use Venmo at A2 Vineyard.

As Jesus welcomes all, so this communion meal is open to all. We will serve communion at the front of the stage. If you require a gluten-free wafer, they are available in each basket. Just make sure that your communion chalice says gluten-free on it. If you need to stay at your seat, please raise your hand now and keep it up, and an usher will bring communion to you.

After receiving communion, you're welcome to eat and drink it right away and spend as much time as you need praying up front. When you are done, place your empty cup in the bowls near the front. Please stand as you are able for communion.

Let's pause and open our hearts to the Giver of all good gifts. In the gospel today, we saw Jesus be a guest at Simon's table, but as we come to communion, Jesus is now the host. Jesus invites us to the table of reconciliation with God and with each other. We come to his table not because we are righteous, but because Jesus welcomes the unrighteous.

Let's pray for our offering.

So God, thank you for speaking to us right now in this moment where we're at. Dear God, we love you, we adore you, and we trust you. Pray that you give us grace to trust you more and more. We're offering prayers right now; we're offering tithes and offerings. We pray that you use these financial gifts to let the hungry be fed and that they only be used to bless those that are in need. And we pray that you be greatly trusted and praised as we give.

Let's sing the doxology.

We have dreams is [Music]. Amen.

Welcome! I'm so glad you've come. Maybe you think you're not worthy, that you don't deserve it. But Jesus says don't worry about deserving. He delights in you, so come and enter into His joy.

Do you need forgiveness and mercy? Come. Do you need strength and courage? Come. Do you need comfort and acceptance? Come. Do you long for the love and justice of God to flood this world? Then come. Do you hunger and thirst to be closer to Jesus? Come, because He welcomes all who seek Him.

Now let us pray together the prayer our Savior Jesus taught us:

"Our Father in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen."

You are now invited to come forward for communion in two rows down the center. Keeping us out of despair, the hustle of the devil in ways to explain, and mercy is a heart to this day.

Seeing the treacherous grace, we've come to subvert, start our lives flying through everything. Splendors could be saved; your mercy confuses still grace. Is safe, how much trust your wings, dancing may we now divide you as always.

All right, the devil ain't always treacherous grace.

Right, sisters and brothers, our benediction is that we try not to be afraid, instead that our lives be continuously marked by compassion, kindness, and joy. Freely give what we have been given, share our treasures with those in need, knowing that God smiles at our generosity.

And may the blessings of Jesus, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, encourage and strengthen us in every good work.

Amen, amen, and amen. Blessings be upon your hands.